The Fourmile Fire destroyed Jane Sander's house on Whispering Pines Road. It also destroyed her garage. But in between the garage and the house, a mature aspen, and the grasses that surrounded it, survived -- for at least a little while longer.

A few days after the September fire, Xcel Energy cut down Sanders' aspen along with thousands of other trees -- most of which were completely charred -- as the utility worked to restore power to the homes in the burn area.

Months later, many of the trees still lie where they fell, and residents in the burn zone are increasingly frustrated that Xcel has never cleaned up the mess.

"Xcel had a big mess to deal with as well. All of their poles burned and they were trying to restore power to everyone," Sanders said. "I totally understand they couldn't come through and clean up right away, but to say that they aren't going to take care of it ever -- it's a problem. You only have so many hours in the day and only so many dollars (to clean up)."

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The difficulty with moving the downed trees is also the issue for Mara Pawlowski, 52, who lives on County Road 83 and who suffers from multiple sclerosis.

"If you could see the effort it takes to clean this up," said Pawlowski, who estimates between 300 and 400 trees were cut by Xcel on her property alone. "I could see working on just this little section for the rest of my life."

The Fourmile Fire burned more than 6,000 acres and destroyed 169 homes. It also damaged or destroyed 225 of Xcel's poles and 15,765 feet of overhead conductor, according to Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz. When Xcel replaced the power poles and lines, the company also removed thousands of burned "hazard trees" that could have fallen into the power lines later.

The company's policy is to leave the debris from these kinds of operations on the ground, and Xcel has no plans to clean them up.

"We actually spent hundreds of thousands of dollars over several months taking down trees that were damaged by fires and in removing them from roads and driveways or away from other critical utility infrastructure," Stutz said in an email. "We were glad to assist in the fire recovery effort by felling these trees at no expense to the homeowners."

Stutz also said that Xcel believes that homeowners would have needed to remove the majority of trees cut by Xcel, eventually. And therefore, Xcel bore a cost that the landowners would otherwise have paid.

Dave Daney, who lives in the Sugarloaf community, said he understands that Xcel may not be required to remove the cut trees, but he still thinks the company should do it.

"Xcel may have no legal responsibility for cleaning up their mess," said Daney, who worked for the better part of a week to clear the debris Xcel left along his driveway. "But I think they have an ethical one."

Mara Pawlowski on Monday stands next to a pile of limbs and branches that Xcel Energy cut down on her Sunshine Canyon property to make way for new power lines. Xcel has no plans to clean up the debris.
(
PAUL AIKEN
)